American Ultra-Right Wingers in Toronto Friday

By Veronica Wylie, 9 July 1998

Yesterday, about one hundred extremist anti-choice demonstrators
staged an event in Kingston, Ontario. Lining the busiest street during
the morining rush hour, they displayed six foot high posters of white
fetuses. Most of the group were from the US, (see below). A group of
about thirty Kingston social activists showed up to counter protest.

Many of the people in the anti-choice group wore army fatigues and
other army paraphenila. To intimidate and harass pro-choice activists,
many of Americans were kitted out with walkie-talkies and video
cameras. They repeatedly video taped us, even when requested not to do
so. Most of the Americans appeared to be from Wisconsin, (according to
their license plates) and wore T-shirts that said US Taxpayers
Party and had bumper stickers on their cars that read
Principles over politics. This is a group that has advocated
arming children and justifies killing doctors who perform
abortions. According to this week's NOW magazine they are on an
Ontario tour designed to promote their cause and their group.

The extremists did their best to try and provoke a violent reaction
from the pro-choice protesters by reciting right-wing dogma and
anti-Canadian slurs, such as: You are showing your Canadian
ignorance and Even God can make to Canada. Clearly, in an
effort to intimidate the pro-choice activts, one extremist said he had
ammuntion with him. Trying to justify their position when queried by
pro-choice activists, they reverted to memorized slogans and right
wing jargon, such as: You don't know the Truth and You
haven't learned the Truth yet. When asked about their
positions on other issues like, homelessness, racism and
homosexuality, they became defensive and justified white supremacy and
homophobia through biblical evangelical and interpretations. One
extremist called us perverted and said we were going to go to hell.

One anti-choice radical dressed in fatigues harassed a visble minority
pro-choice activist by becoming extremely aggressive with his video
camera. In an effort to protect her, a friend tried to deflect the
camera, only to be pushed and shoved by the American. This
agressiveness and violent reaction obviously displeased the few
Canadian anti-choicers who tried to advocate restraint.

This American group is more than your run-of-the-mill
pro-lifers. Their beliefs are based on ultra-right wing poltical and
fundamentalist religious ideology, with an insidious undercurrent of
justifed violence. This was evident by a dispute that broke out
between the Canadian religious anti-choice demonstrators and the
Americans about capital punishment. One American even said that
Catholics were going to hell as well, which upset their Canadian
Catholic hosts.

It is essential that all efforts be made to expose the hypocrisy,
violence and right wing nature of this anti-choice group. For more
information about this group, pick-up this week's NOW Magazine or
visit their web site at: www.now.com. Please show up and/or stage a
counter protest if they show up in your town. Below, is some
information about a counter protest in Toronto on Friday.